Vir Adahlen
by Kal-El Fornia
Summary: It means the Way of the Forest, and that together we are stronger than one. As Merrill and Hawke live their lives as farmers on the farmlands of Amaranthine with their three children: Malcolm, Bethany, and Tamlen, they are happy in their simple life together. It's not exactly what Merrill had envisioned for herself, but it's more than she ever thought she would have.
1. Where Are We Now?

I've been playing Dragon Age 2 more recently. I've come to terms with the fact that it isn't Origins, but now I'm starting to think that perhaps that isn't a bad thing. Despite its flaws, the one thing no one can fault Dragon Age 2 for is the fact that it makes you care about the characters, especially ones like Merrill.

Disclaimer: Don't own Dragon Age, Bioware and its EA overlords do.

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It wasn't the life that Merrill had envisioned for herself when she had spent most of her life training to become Keeper of one of the proud Dalish clans, or even when she had lived with Hawke in his estate in Kirkwall, but being the wife of a farmer was special in its own little sort of way. It was calm and peaceful on their farm just on the outskirts of Amaranthine, away from all the hustle and bustle of the proud Warden city, but still also close enough to where it didn't take them that long to get to the city if they needed something from there. Although, the biggest plus had to be the nature of it all.

To Hawke's amusement and delight she would often stroll around their fields barefoot or tend to their animals by singing to them one of the ancient Elvhen songs of The People. In the early years their neighbors had found it odd, more so than just the situation of an Elf and a Human being openly in love, but over time most of them had learned not to say anything, especially due to the odd rumor every now and then that she and James had always made a point to laugh off, that James was a mage. The rumors had led to Templars visiting them on numerous occasions, every time leaving the Hawke farm, no relation to the Champion of Kirkwall of course, with a glowing impression that while the Hawkes were a rather unique bunch, that they were nothing but courteous and charming, and that it was preposterous that any of them were mages.

Of course, Merrill mused as she stared out the window of her home, the Hawkes were indeed a very magical bunch. She and James were both mages, as was their daughter Bethany, and Merrill had been suspecting that little Tamlen, the youngest of her three children, was also possibly touched with the gift of magic. Only her oldest son Malcolm had never shown signs of the gift, and it was something that she and James whispered about when they were sure the children were asleep. The lack of magic was definitely going to make Malcolm's life easier, well as easy as it could be considering that the rest of his family were apostates, his mother even a blood mage, but Merrill also knew that lacking the gift could perhaps make Malcolm feel like an outcast among his own family, even though she loved the boy just the same.

"Mother," the voice of a young girl complained, which caused Merrill to look back at her daughter, "can we eat yet?"

Merrill smiled and laughed, and waved her hand, all the while using her magic to make little sparks of people dance across the air. Little Tamlen laughed and clapped his 6 year old hands, adoring the sight, but Bethany simply rolled her eyes. Merrill couldn't help but giggle at that. "When your brother and father get home."

"They're taking forever!" the girl protested.

Merrill only sighed, and walked over to her daughter to rest a hand on her shoulder. "Then that's how long we'll wait, Da'len"

Bethany slumped in resignation, Merrill taking this as a good sign, but even though she didn't say it out loud she did agree with her daughter that Malcolm and James were taking a bit longer time than usual to get home. Sure, she didn't think that it was something that the mighty Champion of Kirkwall couldn't handle, but as a mother Merrill couldn't help but worry just a twinge.

She was about to go sit next to Tamlen to play with him and pass the time until Hawke and Malcolm came back home, since Tamlen always did love watching magic, but then right before she was about to move closer to the boy, she felt a tug at her skirt. She pet Jesse's, Hawke's faithful Mabari, fur and then she airily strolled to the back door of her home and went outside, Jesse trudging right behind her.

She had thought that James had forgotten to feed Jesse when he and Malcolm went off into the city, James always making it a point to spend time with Malcolm since his own father had sometimes made Carver feel neglected about his not being a mage, but as she stared at Jesse's food and water bowl, everything looked fine.

Not sure of what to do, Merrill scratched her head. "Are you hungry?"

Jesse barked in confirmation.

She thought for another moment. "And is that what you want to eat?"

Jesse happily barked once more.

"Then what's the problem?"

Jesse lowered his head and trudged over to his food bowls, which were rather large to be honest, and then he nudged one of the bowls with his nose.

She put a finger to her chin while she tried to decipher what Jesse was trying to tell her. She wasn't Ferelden so she didn't understand how to speak dog that fluently, but she had always felt that some of Hawke's ways had rubbed off on her over the years. After a few more whines from Jesse, Merrill slowly tried to translate what the Mabari was trying to tell her. "You want to eat inside with the rest of the family?"

The Mabari happily barked again, and Merrill sighed as she picked up the bowls. They were a bit hard to maneuver, but if Jesse wanted to eat with them then she didn't have the heart to tell the faithful dog no. To her surprise when she reached back inside the house with Jesse, James and Malcolm were home, except neither looked happy. Malcolm was standing at the door staring at his feet and James stood off to the side, face in contemplation. She set down Jesse's bowls near the door, and then made her way over to Hawke.

"Ma'vhenan," she said after giving James a quick hug and then moving to her son Malcolm. "is something wrong?"

She tried to touch Malcolm's face, but the twelve year old pushed her hand away. She wondered what had happened while the two of them had spent the day in the city, and then sent a meaningful glance over to Hawke. James nodded and rested a hand on his boy's shoulder.

James waited for a moment, hoping that Malcolm would tell Merrill what had happened on his own, but after a minute he sighed and decided to just tell his wife what had happened. "He got in a fight."

Merrill perked up at that, glad that it wasn't anything serious. "Oh, that sounds like fun!"

James only shook his head. "No, Merrill, a real fight."

Immediately, she tried to touch her son's face again, and when he tried to push her away once more she didn't let him. She lifted his chin and moved his face to the left and the right so that she could get a clear view of both sides. "He looks okay."

"He's not the one who got hurt," James sighed, "but he did break the Donovan boy's nose."

Merrill paused for a second as she tried to think about which one of the city boys that James was talking about. Once she recognized the name, she looked Malcolm right in his eyes for confirmation. "Little Elmer? Why?"

Malcolm simply looked away, not saying anything.

"He won't tell me why," James confirmed, "but neither did the Donovan boy. We went over to his parents to apologize to them, but they said there would be no need for apologies until after we got the full story out of them since neither boy wanted to tell the truth about what happened."

In response, Merrill began pacing in front of her husband and oldest son. If Malcolm didn't want to tell James what had happened then she knew that the only other person he would tell was his uncle Carver since he adored him, so she figured that she had to come up with something more clever. She stopped immediately when she realized that there was indeed someone in the room who could have possibly had an inkling as to what happened, and when Merrill turned around to look at her two other children, it was just as she thought. Tamlen was kicking his legs, bored, but Bethany was staring down at the table she was sitting at, looking guilty.

She looked back at her husband who nodded at her, and then Merrill walked over to her daughter and rested a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Do you know something about this, Da'len?"

Bethany looked over at her twin brother with a pained face and then back to her mother before staring at the table once again. "No."

Knowing a lie when she saw one, Merrill bent down and moved her hand from Bethany's shoulder to her face. "Da'len, tell me the truth."

Bethany sighed and mouthed the word 'sorry' to her brother, before looking her mother in the face. "Elmer called us knife-ears yesterday."

Merill frowned, always knowing that the children having an Elf for a mother was something that could cause them to be isolated from the other children of Amaranthine and its farmlands. To some of the Human children they would just be seen as Elves that lacked pointy ears, and to some of the Elvhen children of the land they would be nothing more than shems. It was true that a lot of children simply played with one another without dispute since Amaranthine was now a Warden city and the Grey Wardens had always had heroes of every race and background, but prejudice still existed of course. She thought of her children and even though all of them looked like Humans, the blood of the Dales still proudly flowed through their veins.

To her surprise, and the surprise of their two oldest children, James laughed when he heard what Bethany said. "Well then, boy," James said while patting Malcolm on the back, "I'm glad you showed little Elmer what is what."

Malcolm looked suspiciously over at his father and then to his mother. "Does this mean that I'm not punished?"

James looked over at Merrill who nodded furiously at him while smiling, the two of them having gained the ability to have entire silent conversations with one another ever since they had become parents, and then he patted his boy again on the head. "Yes, but I'm still taking you to the Donovans tomorrow for you to apologize."

"But he called me and Bethany knife-ears!" Malcolm protested.

"Yes," James began, "but his parents didn't call you that did they?"

Malcolm looked down. "No."

James nodded at his boy, and then looked over at Merrill. "Ma'vhenan?" he said, using one of the Elvhen words he had learned in his time with her.

Merrill looked at James suspiciously but playfully for a second since she had a feeling that he had something up his sleeve. She rubbed Bethany on the back for a moment before walking over to the front door to join her husband and son. She gave Malcolm a hug, and he was more receptive to her touch this time, before deciding to address Hawke. "Yes?"

"I was thinking that we should invite the Donovan family over for dinner tomorrow after we explain to them what happened, and that you could teach them and show them about Elven history? Especially that Elmer boy so he doesn't go off spouting slurs anymore. The Donovan family seems like nice enough people, but I don't think that any of them have ever sat down for dinner with an Elf before."

She didn't even have to think about her answer. "Oh, that sounds wonderful!"

"But I hate Elmer!" Malcolm complained again.

James ruffled his son's hair. "Well at least we know that you can beat him up if you have to."

"This is going to be so much fun!" Merrill almost sang while she practically hopped her way to the kitchen to finally serve her family their dinner. Right as she made sure that the food she had made really was done, she took a moment to look back at her family.

Bethany had begun arguing with Malcolm as he complained to her that she had tattled, James was playing with Jesse, and Tamlen laughed on as he jumped on his father and dog and began wrestling right along with them. It wasn't the life she had envisioned for herself when she had spent most of said life training to become Keeper of one of the proud Dalish clans, but as her heart warmed at the sight of her family, Merrill knew that she couldn't have been prouder of anything else.

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I'm going to continue this for 3 or 4 more chapters I think. We'll see.


	2. She Shook Me Cold

I decided to continue this story and that this story will indeed be something that is more than just four or five chapters long, but I have also decided that I'm going to aim for a monthly or maybe even a bi-monthly update to this if you folks can live with it since I have other stories of mine in my main fandom that will take precedence over this. I do quite love Merrill though, so that will keep me going. Particularly since I've decided to write a story about each virtual lady that has captured a piece of my heart throughout the various games that I've played. This time it will be Merrill, but hey, maybe next time it will be Kyou from Clannad, or Emi from Katawa Shoujo?

P.S. I decided to name each chapter after a different David Bowie song.

Disclaimer: Dragon Age belongs to Bioware and its EA overlords.

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One of her favorite parts of the day, something Merrill enjoyed even more than when she got up early in the morning to sing Elvhen songs to their farm animals, was when she got the chance to walk her children to school. No matter how old they were her children would always be her babies even as they would eventually grow up and leave the farm, Bethany would always be six years old with pigtails and skinned knees while Malcolm would always be that five year old who charged around naked up and about the house as he pretended that he was a Grey Warden. She hummed a happy melody and kept her thoughts to herself while she walked with Jesse at her side, and with little Tamlen holding onto her hand.

Malcolm and Bethany trailed behind her just out of earshot, whispering among themselves about something or other, and Merrill smiled to herself since she had always found it cute whenever kids, not just hers, tried to keep secrets with each other. In fact, she remembered a time where she herself had done just the same as her kids were now doing. It was back when she and Mahariel were little girls, Mahariel being the first child there that she had befriended once Merrill had been discovered to be magic and sent off to join another clan. Mahariel had gotten in trouble for beating up Tamlen, the Dalish one, and when Merrill asked Mahariel why she always insisted on attacking the boy, and why the boy seemed so determined on always being in her presence, Mahariel had very matter of factly said that it was because they were in love, but had then also warned her not to ever go tell anyone else.

It was the first secret that anyone had ever entrusted her with, and Merrill had always kept it close to mind to never reveal it. It was tragic what eventually became of the two out in that cave the two hunters had decided to explore that day, but it wasn't something that Merrill liked to think about. Instead, she decided to focus on the love aspect of it as she hummed, little Tamlen at her side beginning to hum the same tune as well.

She had had a crush or two in the clan growing up, though nothing much came of it since most of the other Dalish her age, with the exceptions of Tamlen and Mahariel, had always found her to be odd. Truth be told she never actually believed that she would ever be bonded with anyone in the clan considering that she was in training to one day become their Keeper, but the fact that she was now married, to a Human of all things, it was a milestone in life that she would have never expected. She wondered what her younger self would have said were she to go back in time and tell the little girl that she would one day mate with a shemlen, but she figured that it didn't really matter in the end. She had fallen in love with a Human and had born him Human children, and despite the fact that other Dalish would have certainly called her a traitor to their race for doing so, as the tiny person who was holding her hand hummed and marched at her side, Merrill knew that there was nothing treacherous about the choices that she had made in life.

She let her thoughts go back to her current setting once a certain school building came within sight. It wasn't where Bethany and Malcolm went to school, they had once but that was years ago, and instead it was where Merrill was going to drop off little Tamlen. She was still nervous about Tamlen going off by himself considering the fact that with each passing day it looked more and more like he had been granted the gift of magic, but Merrill took a deep breath as she prepared herself to let go of her son's hand for another day.

It took three more of those deep breaths and walking until they were just a few feet away from where the school teacher was waiting for her charges before she finally let go of Tamlen's hand, and Merrill bent down on one knee as she then turned to Jesse and whispered quietly to the Mabari. "Make sure he doesn't use any magic."

The Mabari barked in confirmation and then quickly made his way over to Tamlen's side, the youngest Hawke being his master for the day. After a hug between herself and her son, and an exchange of 'I love you', Merrill finally stood back up and watched as Jesse and Tamlen marched into the school, and as the school teacher waved her goodbye until she went to pick him up.

As a mother she was still nervous of course, but she had faith in Jesse to watch over Tamlen and make sure he didn't use magic while at school, since the vigilant Mabari had done the same for Bethany when she was young. A thought came to her at that moment that made her smile that there were those in the world that would have been shocked that she had left her son under the care of a dog, but she was a Hawke, and being a Hawke meant that you trusted dogs much more than you would anyone else.

Nodding to herself since she decided that Tamlen was going to be okay, Merrill turned around and faced her other children. "Now, lets head off to school!"

However, neither Malcolm or Bethany looked as enthusiastic as she did. Normally, despite how 'lame' they thought she was being, they usually humored her, but Merrill could tell that something was wrong when she saw the twins look at one another nervously, before they both looked at the ground. It seemed like they had something to say, but that neither one of them wanted to be the one to say it.

"Is everything okay?" Merrill asked after a minute or so of silence, her children starting to concern her.

Bethany nudged her brother, and then Malcolm nudged her back, and the process repeated a few times, before Bethany sighed and was the first one to look back up at her mom. "Malcolm and I were talking, and we were thinking that maybe you don't have to walk us to school today?"

Merrill's first instinct was to open her mouth to protest the fact that her children wanted to go off by themselves, but then she stopped herself and tried to hide her frown. She would talk with Hawke later about what just happened, but at the moment all she did was give each of them quick hug, and then she watched as they walked off towards school, the both of them giving her a sheepish wave as they left her behind. For about a minute after, all Merrill could do was just stare off in the direction that her twins had sauntered off to, before she sighed and turned to walk back home.

Nothing exciting happened on her way back, and Merrill had forced herself not to think of anything until after she was already back at the farm, and as she opened the front door of her house to walk inside, her face was completely blank. She wiped her bare feet on a rug near the front door to wipe off any loose dirt she had tracked in, especially since she walked around barefoot, and Merrill immediately went to her and James' room, not even going to pretend that she was in the mood for anything else.

Oddly enough considering that he was usually up early in the twilight hours of the morning, Hawke was lying in bed without a care in the world. He was awake, reading a book that Varric had written about the conspiracy theory going around that the Warden was the real power behind the Ferelden crown instead of King Alistair, but he really should have been out on the farm, at least for the next few hours or so. Maybe he was taking a day off, or perhaps he had finished early, but as Merrill made her way over to and plopped onto her bed in her usual spot beside James, she knew that she was too depressed to care.

It was one thing to be rejected by her clan, with the exception of a certain few people she had always been somewhat of a loner from a lot of her other clan mates, but that didn't even compare in the slightest to being rejected by one's own children. She could take the other Elves looking at her disdainfully for the whole Eluvian business and for her ending up being married to a 'shemlen', but being cast off by her own babies weighed much too heavy on her heart.

Glancing over from his book, Hawke marked the page he was on when he saw that his wife was motionless and lying face down on their bed. "Is everything okay, Merrill?"

Not moving from her position, Merrill's muffled voice barely made a sound. "My babies hate me."

Quirking his eyebrow, Hawke decided that perhaps it would be best if he just set down his book for the moment. "Come again?"

Forcing her face up from her bed, Merrill looked over at Hawke with eyes that were brimming with tears. "My babies hate me!" the Elven woman blurted out, before her eyes widened from a sudden thought as she sat fully up and grabbed onto her pointy ears. "Creators! Do they hate me because I'm an Elf?"

Had his wife not been practically hyperventilating Hawke would have laughed, but since Merrill was freaking out just a tad bit too much, he sat up as well, and rested a hand on her shoulder. "You know, they're Elves too. Except they don't have the pointy ears."

Clearly not listening to her husband, Merrill only lamented further. "They're ashamed of me. They're ashamed of their Dalish heritage."

The former Champion just sighed, and figured that he'd do his best to explain the situation to Merrill, since he too had experience with it. "They're not ashamed of you, just embarrassed that their mom walks them to school. If it makes you feel better, Carver and my sister did the same thing with my mom too."

Immediately, Merrill leaned into Hawke a bit and grabbed on hopefully to his shirt. "Really, they don't hate me?"

Lifting his hand up to wipe away some of the few tears that had gathered around her eyes, Hawke finally laughed. "They don't hate you, Ma'vhenan."

Unable to contain her new found giddiness at finding out that her babies still loved her, Merrill practically tackled her husband as she charged him for a hug. She laughed when he grunted due to not expecting the tackle, and continued to do so as they fell off their bed and as James began to laugh along with her. She gripped onto him fiercely, James tightening his own hold in return, and it was then that Merrill finally realized what she would tell her past self if she somehow ever came into contact with her. She would tell the little girl that she was going to fall in love with a shemlen, and that it would be the greatest thing that ever happened to her.

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One of my biggest weaknesses when it comes to writing is the trouble I have with writing those grand adventure stories we're all so fond of. With that in mind, if someone were to go through my writing here they would see both a lot of stories focused on humor and also a lot of my slice of life style things like this story here.

If any of you have any ideas for this story I am more than open to hear them! In fact, one of the reviewers for the opening chapter actually gave me the idea of having a chapter where one of the kids runs away to go and join the Dalish.

In any case, I actually don't know if a school system exists in Dragon Age, but I decided that since we aren't told otherwise to my knowledge, that that was my green light to use it.

I appreciate all the reviews, follows, and favorites, and I will do my best not to let you folks down.

If you know any good m!Hawke/Merrill stories, let me know so I can check them out. If you have something you've written yourself, don't be afraid to demand that I read it! Haha


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